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Sunday, April 1, 2012

38 Weeks Pregnant - Locked and Loaded!

My wife is now at 38 weeks pregnant. (Full Term) My baby girl is ready to be born now! She's now 6.8 pounds and is 19-1/2 inches long from her head to heels, as long as a leek! She has a firm grasp now, which we'll soon be able to feel when our baby squeezes our finger for the first time :) :) :) Her organs are now fully developed and ready for life outside the womb.

This week, my wife's chiropractor said she's "Locked and Loaded" in the head down position in the pelvis, ready to be born! The midwife also said she has no dilation yet. However, the mild braxton hicks contractions have been increasing with as many as a couple per hour but are still without any pain and come and go. Some women report having these weeks before birth but we'll monitor it for any changes.

This week we've been wondering when early labor will start. We are lucky to have many helpful resources from the midwife and our lamaze classes. According to Budapest Doula here are some common signs of early labor that we've been looking for:

-Intense Nesting: feverishly organizing baby's clothes by color or type, doing laundry, setting up the baby's room in great detail, and in general having an intense desire to prepare your house for your bundle of joy.-Diarrhea: while it may be gross to talk about, this can be an important sign of early labor. All the mild contractions can soften the stool. Also, some say eating spicy foods can cause more bowel movements which can in turn initiate more contractions. But we all know about old wives tales.-Increasing Contractions: this is textbook right, increasing in frequency and intensity. Right now we've only had the mild braxton hicks version to the best of our knowledge, but she has noticed the frequency and intensity increasing slightly in the past couple days.-Dilated Cervix: this hasn't happened yet. We have another appointment this Thursday though and who knows maybe we'll see some dilation. If not, the midwife said she might starting stripping the membranes to help it along. Stripping the membranes can help labor along because it assists in ripening the cervix and preparing it to dilate.-Losing the Mucus Plug: aka "Bloody Show" is a jelly like substance that can be clear, pink, grey or another color that can range from very small to the size of a golf ball and is the substance that seals the cervix and prevents harmful bacteria from entering the cervix during the 9 months of pregnancy. My wife has not lost this yet, however some women never notice it, some lose it multiple times, it really depends.-Breaking the Water: ah, yes, the common sign of pregnancy we all recognize from the movies. However, real life is usually much less dramatic. It might start leaking, might gush out, however most women don't actually have it break until active labor. Again, no waters have broke yet. One thing I didn't know with this is once you spring a leak of amniotic fluid, you should not take baths or have sex, because you could introduce harmful bacteria to the open uterus!

We've had some braxton hicks contractions, but mostly we've just been nesting a lot! We even finished the nursery, here's a 360 degree view of our purple and white baby's room. I think it's a beautiful room for our beautiful girl:

So, we're playing the waiting game now. In the meantime I have been stressing a lot about the pending birth. I too am nesting in a way and am afraid we don't have everything ready. It helps to talk about it though.

I mentioned to my brother the other day that you'll never be ready for all of this. No matter how much you want to have children, no matter how many books you ready or websites you research, nothing will fully prepare you for everything you will go through. Your life will go though a major change, but it's a good change and it's one that will help you grow. Becoming a father doesn't happen overnight and it's a process.

Sympathy Weight Update: lost a couple, at 204 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 19 lbs so far. I just took a 10 mile bike ride yesterday so that might help, I'm so sore though, ah!

Well that's all for now, thank you for reading my blog! It means so much to me that people see my experience and hopefully get something out of it. Next week my baby will weigh as much as a Baby Watermelon, believe it or not!

7 comments:

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